POLICE in India have arrested eight Arab nationals accused of paying brokers thousands of dollars to arrange sham Islamic “marriages” with underage girls for sex, an officer said today.

The five Omani and three Qatari men were detained in the southern city of Hyderabad where police had previously arrested wealthy sex tourists seeking so-called “one-month wives”.

Deputy Commissioner of Police V. Satyanarayana said eight underage girls had been removed from hostels across the city. Five brokers, three clerics and four hostel owners involved in the racket were also arrested.

“The Arab men paid between US$4,500 to US$15,500 (RM18,890 to RM62,960) to brokers who arranged the girls for short-term marriages. They had help from qazis (ulama) to perform the rituals,” Satyanarayana said.

The accused men, all in their late 60s, entered religious unions with the victims after arriving in Hyderabad last month, the officer added.

He said it was unclear whether the accused intended to take their victims – all under 18 years old – back to the Middle East.

Sex and marriage with minors is treated as a sex crime in India. The accused men have been charged with deception, rape and slavery offences.

Last month India’s women and child welfare minister Maneka Gandhi urged the foreign ministry to track down a 16-year-old girl taken to the Middle East by a 65-year-old Omani who brokered a “contract marriage”.

The accused “married” the girl in May in Hyderabad after paying US$8,000 to brokers and her family, who later helped arrange her travel to Muscat.

The girl’s mother filed a police complaint after the victim called her in distress. The girl’s father, uncle and aunt were later arrested.

Gangs target poor families in Hyderabad with the promise of cash if they put forward their daughters for “contract marriages” with wealthy older men. – AFP, September 21, 2017.